How HR Teams Can Save Time and Help Employees with Agentic AI

HR teams today face an impossible balancing act: meeting the personalized needs of every employee while managing an ever-growing volume of manual, repetitive requests. The result? Not enough time bandwidth on strategic work like engagement, retention, or workforce planning.

The problem isn’t effort—it’s the tools. Traditional HR AI systems and automation platforms were built to retrieve information, not to reason or act. 

They can surface a policy or a form, but they can’t complete a workflow or ensure compliance. In fact, HR staff are spending as much as 57% of their time on administrative tasks.  For many HR teams, that means valuable time lost switching between systems, verifying data, and tracking down updates that could and should happen automatically.

Agentic AI changes that. It’s the next evolution of enterprise automation: a system that interprets HR context, takes goals as input, and acts across multiple tools and datasets via integrations and APIs. 

Instead of simply returning information, agentic AI is able to coordinate between applications like Workday, ServiceNow, and Microsoft Teams to complete HR workflows end‑to‑end with built‑in governance and auditability—reducing case volume, improving employee experience, and giving HR time back for the work that matters most.

What is agentic AI? (and why it matters for HR)

Agentic AI is AI that takes goals as input, reasons over context, and acts across systems to complete tasks autonomously. 

It works through AI agents—autonomous software components that draw from large datasets and improve over time. Agents function like intelligent digital coworkers built for specific tasks, like automatically filing a PTO request on a user’s behalf, nudging them to complete a mandatory training, or surfacing the exact knowledge for their question). 

Then agentic AI tools coordinate across many agents to deliver transformational automation without continuous scripting or hand‑holding. This reasoning‑driven automation goes beyond generative AI or rigidly automated rule‑based bots.

By interpreting natural language, applying organizational policies, and coordinating actions across systems like Workday, ServiceNow, and Microsoft Teams, agentic AI is able to complete HR workflows end‑to‑end safely and under your company’s rules. 

For instance, using Moveworks agentic AI Assistant, employees can simply chat with the assistant to find information, generate answers, and most importantly, produce outcomes too. 

Then our Reasoning Engine interprets HR-specific language (“update my benefits,” “my boss,” “extend my leave”) and links it to the right systems.

A few examples of this in action:

• PTO requests: Checks policy details, confirms balances, submits the request, and blocks the calendar—with minimal human intervention.
• Onboarding: Grants access to tools, schedules orientation, and shares department‑specific resources automatically.
• Benefits updates: Employees change plans or add dependents in chat while the AI updates the backend systems.

Agentic AI isn’t theoretical—it’s already transforming HR operations. By offloading repetitive processes and reasoning through complex tasks, it gives teams time back to focus on culture, growth, and strategy.

How does agentic AI differ from other kinds of AI?

Earlier AI systems respond to individual prompts—they didn't reason, plan, or adapt. 

Traditional AI was reactive, task-specific (e.g., rule-based chatbots).

Generative AI marked a leap forward—producing text, code, and summaries in response to user inputs, but stops short of taking action.

Agentic AI can act independently and dynamically. It combines reasoning and automation to interpret complex context, take goals as input, and act across multiple systems via integrations and APIs. It can draw on data from different sources, apply policies, and make iterative decisions—executing work end‑to‑end with governance and auditability, rather than delivering static outputs.

For HR teams, that distinction is critical: a traditional AI assistant can point to a benefits form, while an agentic one can locate it, complete it, and file it on the employee’s behalf.

How does agentic AI work?

Agentic AI takes goals as input, interprets organizational context, plans, and acts across systems to achieve outcomes. It’s designed to adapt and improve over time, using real enterprise data so people and systems work smarter together.

Perception: Interpreting enterprise activity

Agentic AI ingests and interprets signals from APIs, event streams, logs, and search indices across the enterprise. It can understand what’s happening in platforms like ServiceNow, Workday, Jira, SAP, and Microsoft 365 to spot trends, detect anomalies, and ground decisions in operational context in near real time.  

Reasoning engine: Planning and adapting intelligently

At the center is a reasoning engine that:

• Plans multi‑step workflows to meet defined goals.
• Selects the right tools and integrations for each step.
• Handles exceptions and incomplete data where possible.
• Applies organizational policies for consistency and governance.

It uses LLMs, ML, and NLP for intent understanding and plan execution, balancing autonomy with oversight through configurable review and escalation.

Memory and policies: Context with compliance in mind

Short‑term memory tracks the active conversation or workflow; long‑term memory provides continuity by recognizing patterns and prior interactions. Every action is logged for auditing and transparency. The system operates within existing enterprise access controls, permissions, and compliance programs—governance by design, not as an afterthought.

Top use cases for agentic AI in HR

Every day, HR handles thousands of small but critical employee interactions—requests that must be resolved accurately and compliantly. Because your work features a significant amount of repetitive, rules-driven processes, it’s ideal for agentic AI support.

Agentic AI streamlines employee case management and support workflows by reasoning through complex context, automating repetitive steps, and proactively engaging employees to resolve their questions through natural language chat.

The result: fewer cases, faster resolutions, and a smoother employee experience—delivered by an agentic AI that is able to execute end‑to‑end HR workflows with governance and auditability.

Talent acquisition

Recruiters gain back hours each week because agentic AI automates the coordination-heavy work that slows hiring. It plans and acts across systems like Greenhouse, Workday, and Slack—scheduling interviews, reminding panelists to submit feedback, syncing job descriptions, and escalating delays through secure integrations and APIs.

Since the system operates with enterprise context, it is able tocan handle many exceptions automatically—rescheduling when conflicts arise or notifying hiring managers of bottlenecks.

The result is faster hiring cycles, fewer manual updates, and recruiters who can focus on candidates instead of calendar juggling.

Onboarding

New-hire onboarding becomes faster and more consistent with agentic AI coordinating every step of the process. It is able to plans and executes onboarding workflows across systems like Workday, ServiceNow, and Slack—such as provisioning and granting access to the right tools, helping to set up direct deposit, and delivering learning materials through secure integrations and APIs. 

Agentic AI-powered onboarding is intuitive and convenient for new employees. Not only does it meet them where they work—in their web browsers, or on Slack or Teams—it gives them quick and accurate answers, provides resources, and takes action on their behalf, smoothing out onboarding friction. 

Because the AI operates within enterprise policies and permissions, each action is logged for auditability and compliance. With leading agentic AI platforms, HR teams can customize workflows, and because the AI operates within enterprise policies and permissions rest assured that the onboarding aligns with internal procedures and role requirements.

The outcome is that new employees can be fully productive from day one, while HR spends less time managing logistics and more time building engagement.

Performance management

Agentic AI helps managers stay proactive—and reviews stay on track—by automating the repetitive parts of performance management. It plans and executes multi-step tasks across, tracking KPIs, sending timely review reminders, and helps managers progress toward goals through secure integrations and APIs.

Since the system operates within enterprise policies, performance data remains accurate, consistent, and accessible for leaders and HR alike.

The outcome: fewer missed deadlines, cleaner data, and managers who can spend their time coaching instead of chasing updates.

Learning and development

Agentic AI personalizes development based on goals, performance data, and role. Employees engage with development programs more often when agentic AI removes the facilitates tracking, reminders, and approvals. It is able to plans personalized learning workflows,—approve funding requests, send training reminders, and recommend courses aligned with each employee’s goals and performance data.

The result: higher participation in learning programs, fewer manual follow-ups, and a workforce that develops faster with less administrative effort.

Benefits enrollment

Open enrollment becomes simpler and more accurate with agentic AI managing the details behind every benefits update. It plans and executes end-to-end enrollment workflows—answering personalized benefits questions, processing updates across HRIS and payroll systems, and filing tickets automatically when manual review is required.

Because it operates with built-in policy and security controls, each transaction is verified for accuracy, compliance, and auditability. Employees receive real-time confirmation of their selections, while HR gains visibility into every step of the process.

This leads to smoother enrollment cycles, fewer errors, and an HR team that can focus on strategy instead of chasing forms.

Compliance and policy management

Compliance tracking becomes more reliable and less manual with agentic AI handling the routine but essential work of policy management. It plans and executes compliance workflows—tracking policy acknowledgments, managing certification reminders, and logging HR cases automatically across connected systems.

When employees confirm a policy or complete required training, HR has immediate, verifiable proof.

The result: reduced compliance risk, faster reporting, and an HR team that can focus on prevention instead of paperwork.

Why agentic AI helps HR teams

Every day, HR handles thousands of small but critical employee interactions—requests that must be resolved accurately and compliantly.

Agentic AI helps HR teams multiply the impact of every automation. Automating each task at the outset saves time every time it recurs—adding up to measurable time and cost savings across the function. 

By reducing case volume, accelerating responses, and enabling employees to resolve issues on their own, agentic AI turns efficiency into strategy. Combined with governance, and human oversight, this reasoning-driven automation supports an HR model that’s faster, more proactive, and more people-focused.

Discover what’s possible when your HR team can automate repetitive tasks — and focus on supporting your people.

Implementing agentic AI with your HR team

Putting agentic AI into practice starts with a clear plan that balances innovation, governance, and human impact. The goal isn’t to replace HR professionals; it’s to free them to focus on strategy, culture, and engagement.

• Step 1: Identify repetitive workflows. Start with the high-volume, low-judgment tasks that slow HR down — onboarding checklists, PTO questions, benefits lookups, policy navigation. These are the moments where AI can reduce manual effort fast.
• Step 2: Centralize your knowledge and integrations. Agentic AI depends on clean inputs. Bring policies, documents, approvals, and system connections (Workday, identity tools, ticketing platforms) into one governed layer so the model can act with context.
• Step 3: Build or customize HR agents. Use natural-language instructions to create agents that can reason through HR requests, plan next steps, and execute workflows. Think time-off submissions, updating employee info, or surfacing the right policy automatically.
• Step 4: Deploy through an AI assistant for enterprise-wide access. Meet employees where they already work — chat, intranet, email, or portals. A single conversational entry point enables employee gets more consistent, accurate help without learning a new system.
• Step 5: Measure adoption and optimize continuously. Track which HR tasks employees self-serve, where friction persists, and how automations perform. Use these insights to refine content, expand coverage, and deepen integration across the HR ecosystem.

When implemented responsibly, agentic AI can transform HR from reactive and repetitive to proactive and strategic—helping teams deliver faster, more consistent support while preserving trust and control.

Reimagine HR efficiency with Moveworks agentic AI

HR teams are entering a new era where intelligent systems don’t just answer questions but help work get done. Agentic AI connects the dots between policies, data, and workflows, allowing HR to operate with greater speed, accuracy, and trust.

The Moveworks platform brings those agentic-AI capabilities together in one place. At its core is a Reasoning Engine that interprets enterprise context, plans multi-step workflows, and executes them securely across tools like Workday, ServiceNow, and ADP.

• Through the AI Assistant, employees get help in a natural, conversational way to complete tasks instantly—from updating benefits to checking training requirements—without ever leaving chat or their web browser. 
• Moveworks also provides Agent Studio, a low-code environment where HR, IT, and other teams can create or customize their own AI agents. These agents use the same planning and execution framework to manage onboarding, benefits, and policy workflows..

In practice, that means faster support, fewer manual handoffs, and more time for HR to focus on people—not processes. Moveworks turns the principles of agentic AI into a working reality: secure, compliant, and ready for the enterprise.